official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

[purkinje-fiber]

I play as Protoss (obviously), and I just got bumped to Gold league for 1v1! I'll probably be promoted to Platinum pretty soon, though. I am 10th in my division, and that's about where I was when it bumped me up into Gold.

For those of you who play Protoss, or have more knowledge of the game than I, how do you deal with corrupters? I've tried getting a lot of stalkers to defend my colossi against them, but then my ground army dies and the colossi just have to flee. Any suggestions on how to counter the use of these units?

[DukeEsquire]

I play as Protoss (obviously), and I just got bumped to Gold league for 1v1! I'll probably be promoted to Platinum pretty soon, though. I am 10th in my division, and that's about where I was when it bumped me up into Gold.

For those of you who play Protoss, or have more knowledge of the game than I, how do you deal with corrupters? I've tried getting a lot of stalkers to defend my colossi against them, but then my ground army dies and the colossi just have to flee. Any suggestions on how to counter the use of these units?

I play Zerg (1600 Diamond).

Good forcefields to block the Zerg ground army combined with running your Colossi back and blink stalkers quickly kill Corrupters.

[_neutrino Veteran]

I play Zerg also is it sad i spend more time on this game than i do on WoW anymore? Cataclysm is cool however, it is not as addictive as previous expansion sets :(

[purkinje-fiber]

Thanks for the tip, Duke.

I think my biggest problem at this point is my force fields in mid to late game. I can get a good force field on my ramp when I need to, but when it's more than one force field that needs to be cast quickly, I just don't have the micro for it. Many of the recent games I've lost were by poorly cast force fields.

[DukeEsquire]

Thanks for the tip, Duke.

I think my biggest problem at this point is my force fields in mid to late game. I can get a good force field on my ramp when I need to, but when it's more than one force field that needs to be cast quickly, I just don't have the micro for it. Many of the recent games I've lost were by poorly cast force fields.

Forcefields are the key to any good Protoss player.

Forcefields single-handedly caused me to switch out of Roach/Hydra against Protoss and instead I use an early timing attack of fast Muta/Zergling.

The key to Forcefields is to pick the location of your battles wisely. Know on each map where the bottlenecks are and try to lure the Zerg into them. Then cut off the Roaches from the Hydras. Without the DPS backup from the Hydras, the Roachs can't do much.

Personally, I think something needs to be done with Forcefields. In the hands of a newbie,they are useless because it is hard to micro your army and forcefield. In the hands of a pro, they are broken because it effectively cuts the opposing army in half unless they have either air units or massive units to stomp out the forcefields.

Many pros now spend a lot of their times trying to bait out forcefields before attacking.

[purkinje-fiber]

Personally, I think something needs to be done with Forcefields. In the hands of a newbie,they are useless because it is hard to micro your army and forcefield. In the hands of a pro, they are broken because it effectively cuts the opposing army in half unless they have either air units or massive units to stomp out the forcefields.

Many pros now spend a lot of their times trying to bait out forcefields before attacking.

Doesn't good creep spread in ZvP even that out? With good creep, you can move a Zerg army around much faster than a Protoss ball of units. It just comes down to picking your battles wisely. For zerg, it's wide open spaces to get your units a nice concave. For protoss, it's a close-quarters choke you want the units to come through to allow for maximum splash damage from Colossi and effictive Force Fields.

Either way, it's a very interesting match-up.

[DukeEsquire]

Doesn't good creep spread in ZvP even that out? With good creep, you can move a Zerg army around much faster than a Protoss ball of units. It just comes down to picking your battles wisely. For zerg, it's wide open spaces to get your units a nice concave. For protoss, it's a close-quarters choke you want the units to come through to allow for maximum splash damage from Colossi and effictive Force Fields.

Either way, it's a very interesting match-up.

Casting forcefield is instant. You can set up 5-6 within 2 seconds. No way to move out the way.

Beside, you should be using observers to hunt down creep tumors anyways.

[Andre S. Veteran]

Been playing a lot this afternoon. I'm zerg, platinum league. There is one thing I just can't deal with, and that's a 4-gate rush on blistering sands. Usually when I see that coming, I'll plant 4-5 spine crawlers at my entrance and be fine. But on blistering sands, you have two entrances, and I can't really defend both with static defenses. So the toss simply attacks where the crawlers are not, and I get roflstomped. Any tips?

[obiwong]

Been playing a lot this afternoon. I'm zerg, platinum league. There is one thing I just can't deal with, and that's a 4-gate rush on blistering sands. Usually when I see that coming, I'll plant 4-5 spine crawlers at my entrance and be fine. But on blistering sands, you have two entrances, and I can't really defend both with static defenses. So the toss simply attacks where the crawlers are not, and I get roflstomped. Any tips?

down vote blistering :p

sounds like you're just investing too much into static defense

1 or 2 spines at the front of your natural should be enough. keep a spotter overlord by the back rocks and make sure your creep spread is good so u can move in between your entrances quickly

i'm not sure what unit composition you're losing with

but hydras are good against gateway units

and early on roaches and lings can handle zealots and stalkers

so you can either open with ling speed and roaches or get some lings for early defense and get a quick lair and go for hydras

[Andre S. Veteran]

You don't defend a 4-gate push with Lair tech. It arrives at approx. 6:00 and any money spent on tech at that point won't help you survive (will make you lose). I can get roaches and lings but without the help of some static defenses, he can just outpower my army.

[DukeEsquire]

down vote blistering :p

sounds like you're just investing too much into static defense

1 or 2 spines at the front of your natural should be enough. keep a spotter overlord by the back rocks and make sure your creep spread is good so u can move in between your entrances quickly

i'm not sure what unit composition you're losing with

but hydras are good against gateway units

and early on roaches and lings can handle zealots and stalkers

so you can either open with ling speed and roaches or get some lings for early defense and get a quick lair and go for hydras

You won't have time for Hydras or decent creep spread (unless you want to sacrifice larava injections). Warpgate tech hits about the 6:15 mark.

You don't defend a 4-gate push with Lair tech. It arrives at approx. 6:00 and any money spent on tech at that point won't help you survive (will make you lose). I can get roaches and lings but without the help of some static defenses, he can just outpower my army.

I'm a diamond zerg, and I've been using a new strategy that doesn't seem that great on paper, but has been working surprisingly well in the current meta game.

One base muta.

During the beta, one base muta was actually a pretty popular strategy until fast expand made everyone forget about it. A Zerg that is on even bases with his opponent is almost bound to lose. However, I pulled out one base muta over the weekend and I stomped over 4-gate simply because they didn't expect it.

The big order is roughly (sorry off the top of my head):

-9 Overlord

-15 Spawning Pool

-15 Overlord

-16 Queen

-Immediately once the Queen pops out, upgrade to Lair

-Make a few Zergling and poke around and try to stop any scouting Probes <--this is very important.

-Once lair finishes, immediately drop a Spire.

-Build Zerglings and try not to spend any gas at all. Build up some Overlord buffer because Mutas are food heavy.

-Save up larva once Spire is close to finish

-The second Spire finishes you should have exactly enough gas and minerals to make 5 Mutas.

This should be at about the 6 minute mark. Fly the Mutas and start harrassing his base. Kill probes or just annoy him. The point is the he can't move out of his base if you are harrassing. While harrassing, expand and shift to roach/ling mix. Sometimes I build more Mutas, sometimes I don't get any more. Depends whether he gets static defense.

This takes advantage of the fact that most 4-gate rushes against Zerg are Zealot/Sentry heavy because they expect you to be defending with Roaches, Lings and Spine Crawlers. They might have 2-3 Stalkers which die quickly to Muta. Sentry don't do much and Zealots obviously do nothing.

Obviously not a perfect or long term strategy if people start wising up and using fewer Zealots, but I've had great luck with it so far.

[Ethere]

Hey all. I just picked up SC II and I'm really enjoying the game. However, I'm a complete noob, and I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. Does anyone have any good websites for beginners?

[DukeEsquire]

Hey all. I just picked up SC II and I'm really enjoying the game. However, I'm a complete noob, and I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. Does anyone have any good websites for beginners?

Check out www.teamliquid.net. Is is the main page for the Team Liquid team, but they have a huge forum following as well as lots of livestreams of professional playing and casting of tournaments around the world.

Google "day9tv". Day9 is a professional caster who makes a daily video about Starcraft. His show is aimed at beginners as well as high-end players and is generally very entertaining.

Also, google "liquidpedia" which is a Starcraft II wiki hosted by Team Liquid. It has lots of build orders which can help you get started.

[Ethere]

Check out www.teamliquid.net. Is is the main page for the Team Liquid team, but they have a huge forum following as well as lots of livestreams of professional playing and casting of tournaments around the world.

Google "day9tv". Day9 is a professional caster who makes a daily video about Starcraft. His show is aimed at beginners as well as high-end players and is generally very entertaining.

Also, google "liquidpedia" which is a Starcraft II wiki hosted by Team Liquid. It has lots of build orders which can help you get started.

Thanks so much. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[Andre S. Veteran]

The big order is roughly (sorry off the top of my head):

-9 Overlord

-15 Spawning Pool

-15 Overlord

-16 Queen

-Immediately once the Queen pops out, upgrade to Lair

-Make a few Zergling and poke around and try to stop any scouting Probes <--this is very important.

-Once lair finishes, immediately drop a Spire.

-Build Zerglings and try not to spend any gas at all. Build up some Overlord buffer because Mutas are food heavy.

-Save up larva once Spire is close to finish

-The second Spire finishes you should have exactly enough gas and minerals to make 5 Mutas.

When do you get gas?

[DukeEsquire]

When do you get gas?

I get my first gas at the same time as my pool. I get my second gas usually when the queen is half built.

The key is to build up your gas because Mutas are so gas heavy. The other key is to keep a close eye on your opponent because you will be very vulnerable.

But once you get 5 mutas, you can start taking map control.

[Jet Lee]

Does anyone here have a spare guest pass? would be very grateful to anyone that could help me out!

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I absolutely hate Mutalisks. They're so annoying! It's hard to constantly defend myself from them. It makes it even harder to move out and attack my opponent's base.

[YounGMessiah]

lol yeah it sucks, but normally if you keep, lets say 5 or 6 stalkers by your resources typically they wont mess with you.

[DukeEsquire]

I absolutely hate Mutalisks. They're so annoying! It's hard to constantly defend myself from them. It makes it even harder to move out and attack my opponent's base.

Put up some static defense and mutas can't do much.

[threetonesun]

Mutas are useful if you get them out at the right time. They're particularly fun if you catch a Terran trying to air drop a command center. Also fun if you can harass with them in ZvZ.

Against Protoss though, you'll just get lit up by Stalkers 9 times out of 10.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I play 2v2 Platinum with my friend and we both play Protoss. We often find ourselves getting harassed by Mutalisks with guerilla-style attacks. Either we defend our respective bases with Stalkers or we warp in some photon cannons (which results in having a smaller army). It isn't an issue late-game but it's definitely annoying when you're about to expand early.

[threetonesun]

I play 2v2 Platinum with my friend and we both play Protoss. We often find ourselves getting harassed by Mutalisks with guerilla-style attacks. Either we defend our respective bases with Stalkers or we warp in some photon cannons (which results in having a smaller army). It isn't an issue late-game but it's definitely annoying when you're about to expand early.

If they're going mutalisks instead of roaches, you should just mass zealots and walk all over them before they get a spire up.

[DukeEsquire]

I play 2v2 Platinum with my friend and we both play Protoss. We often find ourselves getting harassed by Mutalisks with guerilla-style attacks. Either we defend our respective bases with Stalkers or we warp in some photon cannons (which results in having a smaller army). It isn't an issue late-game but it's definitely annoying when you're about to expand early.

All you need is a forge--which you should have anyways to get upgrades--and 3 cannons in your mineral line.

Everywhere else, you can just move your army once he starts to harass.

Alternatively, you can just go Stargate to counter Mutas and Overlord hunt.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Patch 1.3.0 is now live (with new league icons).

Also, Blizzard decided to remove the Khaydarin Amulet upgrade for High Templars. There goes +25 starting energy. :(